Edmonton Woman Starts Canada’s First Cannabis Staffing Agency

Alison McMahon should be able to find some really dope jobs after opening what she says is the first staffing agency working exclusively with Canada’s budding marijuana industry.

The Edmonton human resources specialist, who started Cannabis at Work in 2015 to advise companies on issues linked to the use of the drug for medical reasons, recently branched out to help firms find employees as the country moves toward legalizing recreational consumption in July 2018.

“They’re ramping up because they will be heading into recreational (sales) in the future,” she said Wednesday.

“We really saw an opportunity. We’re on a tipping point in the industry. We’re going to need staff … The cannabis industry is quite literally growing in front of our eyes. I liken it to the (1990s) dot-com boom.”

A study last fall by consultant Deloitte concluded Canada’s recreational pot market could be worth as much as $22.6 billion a year.

McMahon estimates the cannabis industry could create 50,000 jobs in Canada after two years of legalization, based on California’s experience.

Potential positions include master growers, accounting, medical sales, answering phones in a call centre and serving customers as a “budtender.”